www.theblisspages.com - Classic Festival at Brands Hatch 2004
www.theblisspages.com - Classic Festival at Brands Hatch 2004
I hadn't been to Brands Hatch for a while and thoroughly enjoyed this event on 23 May 2004.
Update: The 2005 event was on 14-15 May 2005, and you could order online. I went on the 15th - read my report at CSMA classic festival 2005.
See classic festival for more details.
The Indy circuit was used today, rather than the extended Grand Prix circuit, where I've seen a Grand Prix many years ago. See a map of the circuit here.
Last time I went to this event, I remember long traffic jams and an exhausting journey, so I was determined to avoid them this year. I was helped by circumstance - a power cut in the early hours meant I had to get up to turn off the amplifiers on my hi-fi (which are normally turned on all the time), and use my phone as an alarm clock. I was further helped to get up early by my two younger children, who came to see me at five, making further sleep an impossibility. After a leisurely breakfast of pain au chocolat, we left at half-past seven, and arrived at Brands Hatch just over an hour later. We drove straight into the car park, and had less than a hundred yards to walk to the circuit. The grandstand was empty and we could settle down at our leisure to await an exciting day's racing. The weather was glorious - so much so that we all ended up sunburnt, despite some factor 25 sunscreen.
The racing was very varied, with practice and qualifying in the morning and racing all afternoon. I haven't highlighted all the races, just those I found most memorable. I missed the last couple of races, in a vain attempt to get home quickly.
The classic bikes featured machines from the fifties and sixties in 350cc and 500cc classes.
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It was interesting to see the traditional 'bump' start and most of the drivers were in authentic black leathers...
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The classic group one touring car championship was also very entertaining, with a glorious Mazda RX7 coupe dominating the field for 13 laps.
Unfortunately it was a 14 lap race, so a Jaguar XJS V12 took the chequered flag, followed by a throaty Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, as the unfortunate rotary-engined Mazda limped into the pits.
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The MG races were fun to watch too, with over-enthusiastic drivers over-egging it into Paddock bend, and spinning into - and occasionally being applauded as they got out of - the gravel traps.
The thoroughbred sports cars were also good, with E-type Jaguars, TVR Tuscans and an MG Constello V8.
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Then came the awesome EuroBOSS cars, featuring classic Formula One cars, sometimes with F300 engines. EuroBOSS stands for European Big Open Single Seaters.
The winner was a 1997 Benetton B197 with a 4000cc Judd V10 engine from ZigZag Mansell Motorsport (I notice their website was developed by code12). This machine was incredible and lapped most, if not all, of the other cars and smashed the all-time lap record for the Brands Hatch short circuit. Its time of 38.032 seconds compares with, for example, 56.848 seconds for a 5343cc Jaguar XJS V12, and represents an average speed of around 115mph.
It used to be driven by Jean Alesi. Scott Mansell is a name to be remembered and it would be nice to see him in a modern F1 car!
Second was Paul Smith's Simtec S951, with a Ford HB 3500cc V8 engine, and a Footwork Arrows A11B was third, driven by Antony Hansford, winning the EuroBOS Master class for pre-1990 cars. A Cosworth-powered Reynard 93D driven by Roger Kilty won the EuroBOSS 3000 class and came fourth overall.
It was a shame that the field wasn't larger, but a few had been damaged in other races recently, and were being rebuilt. It was still a highlight of the day though.
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The classic pre-1981 Formula Fords were also entertaining, and provided close racing.
I was lucky enough (though the drivers weren't) to have binoculars trained on two spectacular spins.
Sometimes you can just see them coming...
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Not a race as such, more's the pity, but it was fantastic to see and hear some classic Lotus Formula One cars roaring round the track.
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I've always wanted to go in a helicopter, and these short joy-rides at twenty pounds were irresistible. After handing over my money, giving next-of-kin details and speaking my weight, we listened to the safety briefing, which was mainly along the lines of, "Don't walk into the rail rotors!" Then the copter disgorged the previous occupants and I climbed aboard.
I managed to get a seat in the front, which gave me a superb view.
After donning my headphones, we lifted and hovered for a few seconds, before powering forwards.
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It was eerily like a computer game as the horizon shifted around, but also somehow peaceful.
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The view of Brands Hatch circuit was superb, and as well as seeing the cars warming up on the track, I could clearly see the Grand Prix circuit as well as the rally track which was thrilling paying passengers all day.
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All too soon we landed, but I was satisfied - another dream fulfilled, and it had been worth the anticipation.
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We saw a monster truck, Big Pete, crushing cars.
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The RAF Falcons parachute team were impressive, forming a ten-man stack in mid-air and culminating in a precision landing.
There were several air displays.
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The Aerostars are a private formation team, and gave us a good display in their Yakolev aircraft.
Denny Dobson appeared in his Extra 300 stunt aircraft, as did Will Curtis in a Sukhoi 26 M2. The Sukhoi has the best power to weight of any piston-engined aircraft and it showed. At one stage it seemed to hover at an impossible angle using sheer engine power.
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There was a go-kart track where one could drive on a miniature replica of the main circuit.
There were also giant bouncy-castles for the kids and shows including Laurel and Hardy look-alikes in a 1924 model T Ford.
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There were also many displays of interesting machinery and lots of stalls willing to part enthusiasts from their money!
I left before the end in a vain attempt to escape jams on the way home. I was of course being over-optimistic, this being a hot Sunday evening, and returned home two hours later, tired and burnt, but happy.
updated Mon 16 May '05 give feedback...
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: © Mike Bliss 2009